I created this online space to address what so many women rising in their careers seek: mentorship from women at the top. It seems like every women’s conference and business networking event I attend has young women searching for answers to their questions — about advancing their career, becoming more effective, and balancing their work and home life.

Since being named CEO of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, finding the time to answer these requests for mentorship has been difficult. I just don’t have the bandwidth to do my job and counsel women individually. But it’s so important that women in my position try. My goal with this blog is to provide some guidance to ambitious women about how to elevate themselves in the workplace, leading ultimately to a greater representation for women in the C suite and on boards. This blog offers the same type of advice that I usually give during mentoring sessions, incorporating stories from my own career and resources that I’ve found particularly useful.

Having begun my career as a night-shift nurse, I hope that the lessons I’ve learned along the way can help give other women the tools to succeed at the top of their fields. As a mother of 7, I know the difficulty of balancing the demands of work and family, and believe there are ways to be both active in your family life without sacrificing the career you desire.

Assisting me with this project are two young women in my family: Amy Bell Hou, my stepdaughter, and Kaitlin Cleary, my daughter-in-law. Like the young women who write to me for advice, they too are navigating career, family and the workplace environment.

Amy Bell Hou is a writer and new mother living in Oakland, CA. She has worked as a contract copywriter and web marketer in Shanghai and the Bay Area since 2008. She also writes fiction and co-founded a small publishing press in 2014.

Kaitlin Cleary lives in Philadelphia, PA. She holds a Master’s Degree in Communication from Villanova University with a focus in New Media and Journalism, and is Co-Founder of the digital branding and social media marketing agency, Team 624 Communications.

Despite constituting around 50 percent of the workforce, only 14 percent of women hold top-earning executive positions in the United States. The reasons for this disparity are complex and influence all of us. Through real-life stories and experiences, I hope to offer grounded, useful guidance to women in pursuit of their ideal careers.

I welcome your feedback and suggestions for topics. Let’s change those numbers together.